JADEN
   Griffin walks into the hallway with me not long after the nurse went into the room. He doesn't say anything for a while, but he stands next to me quietly. We can't hear what they are saying through the door.
   "You don't have to stay if you don't want to," he mutters.
   "I'll stay," I say quickly. "Do you know how long she's going to be in there talking?"
   "No clue."
   "Oh. Alright." I lean back against the wall. "So she hasn't told you what happened yet?"
   "No." He sighs. "I want to ask, but I don't want to make her uncomfortable. And I want to know, but I'm scared to find out."
   "Yeah. I get it."
   "No, Jaden. I don't think you do. I don't think you realize how important Elly is to me," Griffin says, looking directly at me. I feel all squeamish with him staring at me.
   "Excuse me, sir?" We both turn to look at the nurse who has appeared out of Elly's room. "Are you her brother?"
   "Yes," Griffin says.
   "She needs to get some paperwork signed. Will you come with me so we can get that taken care of?"
   "Of course." Griffin nods to me and follows behind the nurse, going down the hallway. I watch as they stop at a desk and begin flipping through paperwork. I look over towards Elly's door and see it cracked open, so I push it until there is enough room for me to step through.
   "Elly?" I whisper. She opens an eye and sees me, then shuts her eye again.
   "Come on in."
   "Thanks." I walk over and sit in the bedside chair. "So, do you need anything? I could go and get you something."
   Elly opens her eyes. "No." She shakes her head. "No. I'm fine."
   "Oh. Well, did they get you on some medications?"
   Elly makes a quiet grumbling sound, so I assume she doesn't want to talk about it. I guess I'll drop it.
   "Griffin is down the hall doing paperwork for you," I tell her.
   "Cool. Can you help me sit up?" She starts to push herself up on her hands, but then she winces. I remember her wrist and hurry to help her, pulling her up from underneath her arms and setting her back against the pillows.
   "Is that good?"
   "Yeah. Thanks."
   "Yeah." I look around, trying to think of something to talk about. "Do you know when you'll get out?"
   Elly shakes her head. "No. They still have...things to do."
   "That makes sense." I look back over at her and see her looking at her hands, twiddling her thumbs. "Uhm, Elly?"
   "Yeah?"
   "I'm really sorry about everything," I whisper. She stops and looks up at me. "I don't know why I did it. I really care about you."
   "Jaden?" We both jump. I turn and see Griffin has reentered the room. "I'd like to talk to Elly. Alone."
   "Oh. Okay." I stand up quickly. "Do you want me to go ahead and leave or should I just wait out in the hall?"
   "Go ahead and go," Griffin says. "We have some more stuff to take care of here, so tell everyone else to stay at the hotel."
   "Alright." I nod and turn. "Uhm, bye, Elly."
   "Bye," she murmurs quietly, already looking like she might fall asleep again. I hurriedly make my exit from the room and close the door behind me.